1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to systems and methods for information processing and delivery to a selected group of network-connected display devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, out-of-home advertising is typically conveyed via different advertising channels, the most common being using large posters, painted or hung on the sides of buildings or even erecting free-standing billboards above the buildings. They provide an extremely attractive way to grab the attention of viewers who are in the proximity of the buildings. In addition, recent advances in technology have created new advertising channels to promote products and services. One example is the kiosk-type billboards (hereinafter referred to as billboards) typically located in retail outlets, such as shopping malls, airports or hotel lobbies. Examples of such billboards include scrolling billboards and digital signage. The billboards typically loop through a series of poster-type advertisements promoting movies, products and/or retail outlets located in the vicinity of the billboards to induce specific customer behavior.
The billboards usually operate by executing a predetermined advertising cycle in which each advertisement is displayed for a predetermined time period before the billboards automatically cycle to display the next advertisement in the loop. Contents of the billboards are changed and updated on a frequent basis by manually replacing the roll of printed advertisements that provides the loop or modifying the electronic content of the advertisements to be displayed by the digital signage. Thus, it is evident that system management problems associated with use of the billboards exist due to the tedious efforts required to periodically update the contents of the billboards. In addition, the billboards normally do not provide viewers with means for interaction within the context of the displayed advertisements. Furthermore, sale of advertising space and creation of an effective advertising campaign within a given budget in such a system are also made complicated due to the distributed deployment nature of the billboards.